Dibrugarh, Sept. 1: Cattle smuggling is on the rise in Dibrugarh with the demand of meat increasing across the district.

Police arrested two cattle smugglers - Jen Ali and Imran Ali - yesterday.

According to police, the duo belong to a six-member gang from Chalkhowa area of the district and they were involved in cattle smuggling for the past several years.

Sources said Chalkhowa is notorious for anti-social activities. Five to six gangs of cattle smugglers run their business from Chalkhowa.

"The smugglers are divided into groups and they look for stray cattle. If they find any stray animal they pick them up in their vehicle and sell them in the market. The smugglers mostly operate at night,'' a police source said.

Sidheswar Bora, officer-in-charge of Dibrugarh police station, said they had chased several gangs of cattle smugglers but they often escaped by taking advantage of the darkness.

"The smugglers always keep an expert driver in their gangs so that they can flee easily in time of crisis. We have arrested several smugglers from across the district but they often get bail," Bora said.

Sources said there is a high demand for beef in some places of Dibrugarh and cattle smugglers take advantage of this demand.

Most of them are also drug addicts. Apart from cattle smuggling, they are also involved in other anti-social activities.

The police said they usually remain well-equipped with arms while chasing the gangs of cattle smugglers.

Sources said the demand for beef is also high in Arunachal Pradesh and, therefore, cattle head are smuggled through waterways to that state. The police said on June 12 they had arrested three smugglers and seized 12 goats from them.